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Comment by Philipp__ | Hacker News Reader

I am fairly young, 22, mostly sitting in front of the computer, even sitting while studying. So it could be said I sit around 10 hours per day.

When I was younger, up until the end of high school, I used to do sports, but since I got to college, I simply stopped caring. My body is skinny, really skinny, I weight 61kg, and I had that weight for last 7 years. But one day I thought maybe I should do something, not for the looks, but for the feel of my body, and physical body exhaustion just feels healthy sometimes.

So I thought running might be what I am looking for. Any advice on that? I am sure someone is doing it so (with lower body weight), any advice or thought on that? Btw when it's not winter, I skate, especially in summer, I use to skate all night, for 5-6 hours.

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If you're that skinny I'd really suggest weightlifting with a couple days of cardio (run, swim, dance, whatever). I'm assuming you're a man, but I'm a really skinny woman and weightlifting helped me put on 10 pounds of muscle. I feel really strong and amazing.

Agree, do strength work and basic cardio. If you run, also do some sprinting. You never have to run long distances in real life and strength work is very useful for life in general.

Agreed. Build up some strength, maybe double what you ever really need in your every day life, and everything just feels amazingly easy. It's like switching from an economy car to a sports car. Your body becomes fun to drive!

For anyone looking for a super easy to follow 2 day program, try Stronglifts 5x5. It's only big compounds movements (Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Overhead Press and Barbell Row).

You squat every workout which I find amazing. The first time I tried jumping to reach something high up after doing the program for 6 months, I almost lost my balance in the air because I wasn't expecting to go that high! It really builds up your base stats and then you can switch over to any program you like or keep building strength.

Stronglifts is a great program and the lifts in it are the basis for gaining strength and size. The 5x5 on deadlifts and squats soon start to get tough when the weight increases. I'd recommend Wendler 531 instead, I made much better progress with that.

https://jimwendler.com/blogs/jimwendler-com/101065094-5-3-1-...

There are some apps that calculate weights for you and show you what you need to do each session, I use https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vandersw.w...

This is part of what keeps me distant from weightlifting. Everyone you talk to offers a different routine (admittedly, almost all of them are some combination of squats, deadlifts, etc., all of which are workouts I struggle with).

I should probably apply the same process as I have with frontend web frameworks... just pick one and roll with it, it will "workout" in the end.

I think people put to much emphasis on the program to follow. The real secret to progression in the gym is dedication. The guy who shows up 4 times a week for a year doing his own made up program is going to look better than the guy doing the latest program they are recommending online for 2 months then giving up.There isn't any perfect system or quick answers so I find its best to just do exercises you enjoy and set yourself little mini goals and work towards them.

+1. For me personally the way to keep things interesting is working towards measurable goals. Another thing that works well is getting involved with organized sports, the downside is schedule and overall time investment.

Thanks for the reply - both you and all others. I've been struggling with asthma lately which was quite a set back, but I think that's only more of a reason to try and get into better shape.

Almost any program will work well for a beginner. Don't overthink it. The important part of weight lifting is using proper form. Other than that, it's really just about picking it up and putting it down.

Don't overthink it. Just pick one and go.

Isn't it like which language you code in, all are pretty much going to work, and if you want your project finished you better pick one. If you want to be fit, pick one, you can't go wrong with picking a popular program and sticking with it.

I'm a big fan of 5/3/1 and Cube, but wouldn't recommend those (or any PL-oriented programs) to a complete noob especially if he/she is not looking to get into lifting per se.

Also, speaking from personal experience, "fitness" wise (and aesthetics as well) what works best for most ppl is mid-high rep type routine with plenty of bodyweight exercises thrown into the mix (esp pull ups and dips) + some cardio along the lines of the Jailhouse Strong program.

To [slightly] contradict myself :) - what PL-type routines do have going for them is measurable goals + constant progression.

My problem with Stronglift is that it's so boring. Nothing beats doing some isolated bicep curls. I know it's almost taboo here but that's what I recommend - feeling the blood rush into your muscles. You shouldn't stop doing squats, deadlifts etc but rather combine them with isolated exercises. I always look forward to the gym nowadays.

It gets boring after a while, no doubt about it. But for beginners, simply learning (really learning) to do the moves correctly will take a little while as they build up muscle memory and good habits. Once you're there and showing some good numbers, your body is ready for any program you like!

Couch to 5K should help.

http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/c25k/Pages/couch-to-5k.aspx

I will take a look at this, thanks!

+1 for C25k

Pretty solid program to get started running.

After that, I'd suggest doing Bridge to 10K [1]

Surprisingly to me at the time, Bridge to 10K was way easier than C25k

[1]: https://blog.bluefinapps.com/about-bridge-to-10k/

Yep, starting running and creating and maintaining consistency in your workouts is way harder than slowly upping your mileage from 5k to 10k.

AFAICT, all of the health benefits of running come in the first 5K or 10K. Running longer distances becomes detrimental. Save your joints, preserve your muscles and keep your body fat at a healthy level (especially important for women). Rather than increasing your distance, concentrate on increasing your speed.

Yes, recent studies indicate that the sweet spot for optimising benefits vs injuries rates is between 5K and 8K, varying a fair amount between people, and gets quickly worse after twice that.

BUT increase your speed very carefully, or you will hurt your knees possibly giving yourself a semi-permanent (recurring) injury or worse. Beyond a certain point injury rates shoot up with speed a lot more than any health benefits do, more so than with distance as it is easy to let your form slip when concentrating on speed, and in my experience the only advantages in doing 10K in 42 minutes instead of, say, 60 are bragging rights and getting finished & to the shower/pub/other faster afterwards!

Also note that those studies (well, the ones I've seen) compared like for like too (same pace over the distance, studying flat(ish) road racing or treadmill running. I find 16-to-20K trail running with a group (sometimes more of a "fast trek" than a run depending on terrain!) to work out much better for me than 10K road running at full pace.

Absolutely, C25K was the best thing I ever did - Run 2x5Ks a week at lunch and a 10K at the weekend. Worked up to 10Ks about 3 or 4 weeks after first 30 minute run. It makes it pretty easy and I lost around 13 lbs from this alone.

I will tell you what I tried when I was 22, and what I wish I had been told instead.

I was doing weight lifting and ended up developing really bad RSI. Most likely from a combination of a few things including excessive computer use. I stopped, and after that started running, not particularly successfully. That was on and off but not very successful.

Some things I did were good, others weren't. My hips started tightening up and I had joint issues. Lots of testing and alternations later:

#1 Don't eat processed foods or things that will cause a blood sugar crash. This messes up your energy levels and makes consistent exercise much harder. Bulking up, I don't have a good answer for, other than most Westerners are far, far larger than a human would be on a normal diet. Whether or not 61kg is too skinny depends in part on your height.

#2 Get a standing desk, and use it at least part of the day.

#3 Walk every day for at least an hour (much easier if you are in a walkable city; if I wasn't, I might consider a treadmill desk)

#4 Start doing body weight exercise - I recommend "You Are Your Own Gym" for an easy start. This means you can't make up an excuse to not go to the gym because you can do it right by your desk. In this case, it cured my RSI within weeks. Definitely one of the most incredible things that has happened in my life and completely unexpected.

#5 Use an elliptical for endurance or run occasionally.

The important thing is to build up your strength and flexibility without injuring yourself. You are 22 now, but consider if you will be able to do this stuff for the next 50 years.

This baseline fitness will also make it easier to do more active things without getting tired, whether it is mountain biking, running, kayaking, skating, tennis etc.

Here are three steps to gaining weight: First, get more healthy calories in your diet. Second, learn to think like a strong person and learn good form. Third workout 20 minutes 3 to 4 times a week and workout hard focusing on squats and dead lifts. A proper squat will make your whole body strong and you'll grow muscles you didn't know existed.

Some comments:

Other than adding nuts to my diet, I personally struggle with getting enough healthy calories so I can't advise. But you'll know you aren't eating enough if you start sleeping poorly or if you feel extreme fatigue after a workout.

To become strong and learn good form, start with lockouts and minimal motions (e.g., your first deadlifts should just be a few inches of motion). You can lift a lot of weight with a lockout and that gets you past psychological barriers. With your psychology in check you can then focus on form. To have the best form, study ballet.

> healthy calories

A calorie is a calorie. It is just a measure of available energy (1Kcal is about 4Kjoule). The energy itself does not vary.

What does vary is how fast the body processes and can use/store it. 600Kcal worth of food that has most of its calories in processed sugar will be processed and stored relatively quickly so you'll be hungry again sooner than after a 600Kcal meal that has most of its calories in protein or longer form carbs (or to some extent, fats) which the stomach takes longer to process and so keeps you feeling satiated longer.

Of course sometimes you want fast energy (before/during a run for instance) so small sugars are more desirable at those points - tailor your diet to your planned activity.

People who equate fruit and vegetables to "healthy calories" are conflating two things: the calories and nutrients. 250Kcal worth of fruit and veg is healthier than a 250Kcal Mars bar not because of "better calories" but because of the satiation factor as mentioned above and other nutritional factors (fibre, vitamins, minerals, ...).

Also, don't go out of your way to completely avoid carbs. That isn't really effective and some would say unhealthy. Try avoid processed sugars yes, but not carbs overall.

Eat and lift.

The program doesn't matter too much; there are many decent ones. Anything with a focus on the main barbell movements (squat/dead/bench/overheadpress) with some basic progression scheme is likely sound. strengtheory.com is a great source for info; Greg is legitimately strong and actually has some basic science understanding, unlike 99% of 'fitness nerds' who claim to.

Changing your diet will likely take as much effort as the training. Feel free to use an unusual diet to 'learn' to eat more calories. Even if you have to use lots of milk, bacon, or whatever is tasty and easy to get down, your body gets used to the calorie intake and transitioning to a reasonable diet will be easier.

The real challenge is in habit formation. Try to make it easy on yourself and use whatever tricks you can to stick with it.

I'm sure running would work but it's fairly high impact and if you're skinny already then perhaps the high intensity cardio is not what would benifit you the most? Although anything to get your heart working and blood pumping will work!

I'd strongly reccomend regular yoga as an antidote to the compressing forces of sitting at a chair all day. It's amazing how good I feel after just 20mins of stretches and body weight balances post chair sitting.

There's loads of great instructors on codyapp.com, I reccomend checking out 'office therapy' and building up to some more intense ones

Here are my thoughts on learning to run:

http://quandyfactory.com/blog/167/what_you_need_to_know_to_s...

Whoa, did I write this? Close to same age and fellow skateboarder here, same story. I can never get in a routine for weightlifting, but I found running in the winter can help keep active. Typically I'm worried about losing weight, which seems the opposite of most people's exercise motives.

Similar story here.

Running is good, great in fact. As long as you run properly and on soft ground, that is. If you can swim somewhere i would recommend that instead as it is easier on the joints. Exercise will also give you an appetite, ofc.

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